Happy Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day again this year!

Wishing all Mothers of the world, a happy:-
HAPPY MOTHERS' DAY!

Qing Ming Festival - April 6th

Qing Ming Festival is celebrated every year where the living descendants of the departed visit the graves to pay their respects. It is time of year where it is considered to be the Chinese New Year for the departed and the living visit the "homes" of the departed. Last year, Qing Ming was on 4th April, and this year was supposed to be on the 5th of April but made early due to the weekends. My article on last years Qing Ming Festival can be found HERE

The view of the hill from my grandparents' grave

But anyways, in comparison from last years difficulty, it wasn't so hard this year, which I'm thankful for. At least, the workouts has been paying off and didn't felt the same tiredness like year but still my thigh muscles still hurt with the extra effort required to scale the non-standard staircases. Well, with prayers done, mountain scaled, and grandparents visited, hopefully this year would bring me again: someone, and new business opportunities and excellent health all-round for everyone!

My cousin sister placing candles on the altar.

A view of my grandparents' grave

Chinese New Year - 17th Feb

I hope it's still not too late,
Wishing everyone a
GONG XI FA CAI!

Chinese New Year this year was last Sunday, and today is the 4th day of CNY. I'm not sure if anyone else feels the same, but, as we grwo up,  the mood of the holidays season seem to have slowly and slowly diminish over the years. This year and this tine around, it feels the same like every other year. Although this, it should still be celebrated as to not forget our roots and traditition of the culture. Anyways, here's what happened in these few days, at kampung (village):

14th Feb
It's CNY and Valentine's Day at the same time today. Most of us were at home and none of my relatives celebrated Valentine's Day. Went to the temple early in the morning and prayed to Gods. On this day, meals were strictly vegetarian and no meat. Rice was even served during breakfast. Got angpaus (red packets) and went to Mentakab in the afternoon to get more angpaus from the relatives of my cousin's in-laws. There was lion dance performance later in the evening.

15th Feb
Today is the 2nd of CNY which was supposedly the day for fanilies to visit relatives on the wife's side. (1st day is usually with relatives of the husband's side). A couple of cousins with their own families came today. No other visits were planned today, so we just sat around, watching people play Mahjong, Cards, Gin Rummy or just sitting around chatting, catching up with each other on the current issues and going-ons.

16th Feb
Went to Termeloh in the afternoon with my nephew as there was nothing much to do today. I realized that Termeloh had much better development than Jerantut. They even had McDonalds, Secret Recipe, Pizza Hut, Old Town White Coffee and The Store shopping complex while what we have in Jerantut is just a measly Kentucky Fried Chicken. Meanwhile, in the night, we had a jackpot lucky draw among ourselves where everyone who wished to join had to sponsor RM10 each which is gathered and given to the winner of the lucky draw. My niece won the lucky draw and she decided to spend the lot for fried noodles which was then our supper. The amount was quite a lot: RM230.

Well, that's what happened to me during CNY so far!

Happy Winter Solstice Festival - 22nd Dec

It's Winter Solstice Fefstival today! We'll probably stay at home and have some home-cooked food such as chicken, prawn and miscellaneous items. Oh and ya, we'll probably have some "Tang Yuen" too. Tang Yuen are actually soft glutinous rice balls either eaten with ginger broth or just dry varieties. But anywyas, this festival marks the coming of a Christmas and New Year soon!

Mid-Autumn Fest Celebration - 3rd Oct

Today is the actual day of the lantern / mooncake festival and I'm back at father's kampung (hometown village). There was a simple celebration where we had the usual foods for every festivals we had here:- fried noodles, fried vermicelli, pork cooked with black fungus, cheese cake and barbecued chicken wings. Undoubtedly the water caltropm, sweet mini yam and mooncakes were unavoidable. It was quite an  enjoyable affair with the number of people among friends of relatives came by.

This year, we had total strangers among the guests. Two girls from Holland were walking along the street where the old house is located and one of my relative invited them in to eat with us. (Sorry, I don't know their names) But anyways, we introduced them to what was happening and invited them also to eat what we were having. From their reaction, I'm sure they hadn't had a lot of Chinese food in their lives. They were going to Taman Negara (National Park) on the next day and were walking around taking pictures of the place they were at. My father's hometown is actually located near one of the main jetties to go to the Park, which I assume that the foreigners would be boarding the boat to Taman Negara the next day.

After the scrumptious feast, some continued to stay outside, while some were having a karaoke session and some were playing Mahjong. As I write thispot, I could still hear the laugther, chatter, the clacking of Mahjong tiles and also people singing karaoke.  The picture that I have here showing the karaoke session being held in the living room, one of my nieces (Name witheld to her request) is going bananas over the karaoke session. This reminds me to think, how are other people doing at the moment in this celebration of the mooncake / mid-autumn festival?

Mooncake Festival - 2sn Sept

Its already Mid-Autumn Festival  / Mooncake Festival soon! In fact, it's tomorrow. During this time of the year, I'm sure many people would be thinking of moon cakes, lanterns and the moon itself and anything associated with the festival. There are also a couple of things which are not eaten during other times of the year or in any other Chinese festivals, such as the sweet sticky Yam and also the all-time wierd food:- The Water Caltrop.

Water Caltrop? what's that? Is it a water chestnut?
Yes and No. Water Chestnuts and water caltrop actually share the same family.
The Chinese for Water Caltrop is 菱角 or "Bull's Horn" for Mooncake Festival.
Well, see for yourself this root based food:-

They sure look menancing, like a bull head used for some sort of rituals and no, no one purposely shaped the 'fruit' to be like that just for the sake of the festival. This is its original shape and looks. It tastes a little like charcoal cooked water-chestnuts and skin is thick and hard. Well, as it is a bit hard to eat, the tradition is begining to lose its appeal among the younger generation. The other item rarely eaten other items would be the mini-yams. Due to their small size which is probably due to the maturity of the tuber, its more starchy than the normal versions. I don't really like it as it is too sticky for my taste.

 

Hopefully someday, the younger generation would look back to this post and revive this again when the tradition was long forgotten. I wonder how many of the younger generation actually remember any of these foods?

Dragon Boat Festival - 28th May

Today it is the Dragon Boat Festival or the 'Duan Wu Jie' (pronounced Dwan Woo Jyet) in Chinese. It is a festival where according to legend, are commemorating the loyal office Quan Yu from ancient China's history. Anyways, the main item for this festival would of course be Dragon Boat races and also the 'Chang' (glutinous rice cooked and filled with various delicacies such as Chinese chestnut, dried shrimp, pork and mushrooms and wrapped in bamboo leaves, in which they are cooked in hot water for 4 hours). It said that when Quan Yu committed suicide by jumping into the river, villagers threw 'Chang' into the river so that the fishes would not eat the body of Quan Yu while the villagers searched for his body.

Anyways, the Chinese community would probably be having a feast at their homes. Common dishes includes: Steamed chicken, Roast Pork, Double Boiled Soups and Prawns. Although they may seem like the usual food in this days, but in the early days of Chinese history, meats were considered as lavish foods and only enjoyed during festivities. Which is why in most homes, these dishes are so popular.